


Memorial

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Original Character Death(s), Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 02:34:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6497431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The best and worst day of Jack's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memorial

In the middle was a small round memorial. A circle of paving stones with a small pillar the rose about waist high, topped with a small plaque and a quote. She didn’t need to read the plaque, she had the quote memorized. She heard soft footsteps in the grass behind her stop some distance away. She knew he was waiting at the tree line for her to be ready for him to join. 

The circle was made up of headstones. There was space enough for a dozen, but part of them were still simple blank markers, still waiting for their permanent occupant to come along. She remembered first hearing about the circle, the memorial, not long after the ground was purchased. At the time she thought it was morbid, planning ahead for your own death. But now she was thankful that she didn’t have to wander far to be surrounded by family.

After a bit she glanced over her shoulder at the man waiting in the shade. When they made eye contact, he slowly joined her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “I miss them all. Every time another name gets added, a part of me hates this place a bit more.”

“It seems like we are here more often lately.”

He was quiet a moment, he rested his nose in her blonde hair, “I know.”

She turned to face the headstone just to their left, “I remember hearing stories of his younger days, do you remember much about him from then?”

The young man nodded, “He was around a lot on the weekends. He got a kick out of telling me stuff Dad didn’t want me to hear. Especially as I got older. Especially if the stories were about Dad.”

“My memories of him are all of after... He would sit with me on his lap and tell me I reminded him of my Mama. I remember he kept cookies in the bottom drawer of his desk. Then one day he wasn’t there. I drove out to see him…”

“He wasn’t afraid of much, but when the cancer came on fast like that…He just set out to enjoy what he could. He felt it was the best thing to do.”

“I can’t believe it’s been five years…” She choked. “He was there the day Mama died. He took me in his arms and told me he promised he would always be there and I just cried for what seemed like forever. He stayed that whole night, holding me while I slept and cried. I was young and I didn’t have anyone else in the world.” She tugged the man’s hand and they moved to the bench in the shade. “Do you remember my Mama?”

He gazed at a different stone in quiet contemplation. This headstone was smaller, a glittery rose color. “There was a time, when I was a kid, maybe middle school age, when I wished my Dad and your Mama would move in together. She was so fun, and so smart! And I believed she could do anything… I think sometimes my Dad did too. I would catch him watching her with this look I didn’t understand and… Then, when I was ten, she showed up at our house in the middle of the night. I remember waking up and she was upset. Dad had called to have my Aunt come and get me and I went and stayed with her for a week. It was unusual because Dad never sent me away while he was home. When I tried to ask my Aunt and Uncle about it, they changed the subject. They wouldn’t talk to me about it. I think it was the only time where all of them were not simply honest with me.”

“I’m glad they didn’t get together.” She leaned against his shoulder, taking comfort from him.

“Yeah, me too.” He watched workers in the distance, “When she died, I remember the phone ringing. I was home with Dad that last summer before college and the phone rang during dinner…”

“They never could just let a phone ring…”

“No. It was a nurse from GWU Hospital who told him the situation and asked him to come right away. I drove, he was so silent and still in the car. After they told us your Mama was gone and what had happened they let us see her. He took her hand and kissed it and then just cried. I’d never seen him so distraught. 

Uncle Derek told me that when he walked in, it was like he was reliving a nightmare watching him just break down over her.”

“I never knew that.”

\---

He took stock of the headstones and space markers surrounding them. The one directly in front would be taken away soon and replaced with an engraved stone. Just to the left was Uncle Dave and his marker that spoke of who he had been. Husband, Father, Agent, Friend. A man who lived caring for others and who died surrounded by family and friends.  
The next two spaces had simple markers, waiting for their future companions who were still enjoying the realm of the living. Of the next two, one had a small, flat stone and told of a boy, a young man really, who left the world too soon. A boy who had shaved off his blonde curls and become Soldier LaMontagne. The soldier who died doing what he believed in.  
Directly across the circle from the grave that would soon be dug was the first to have been filled. The young man turned to the pink headstone, the stone that marked where his mother-in-law to-be rested. It seemed fitting that her small, pink stone was across from what would soon be a tall, dark, thin one. A yin and yang. Opposite and yet complimentary. 

Of the five remaining spaces that made up the remainder of the ring, only one was occupied. He didn’t really know her, just gifts and cards on special occasions. But her inclusion and that fact her casket had been flown from overseas spoke of how valued she was. Emily Prentiss was probably the only person he would ever know in his life to have had two graves. After all she saw in her life, it wasn’t work in which she found her end. Emily had died peacefully in her sleep just after her 60th birthday. 

\---

His phone chirped and they both jolted slightly back into the present. He checked to verify the sender and stood, “It’s time to go. They’re all waiting on us now.”

\---

They stepped into his Dad’s home and he was instantly pulled into long thin arms. 

“We’re all here for you buddy. Anything you need, let us know. Day or night.”

Jack smiled sadly at Spencer. He hadn’t had to physically look up to the man for years. By the time Jack had reached adulthood, he was built much like his father, tall and a strong presence. Now as he stood and greeted his aunts and uncles, he could feel them respond to him much like they had to his father. With a certain familiarity that came from years of closeness. The four of “the team” that remained were now all retired from the Bureau and in their 50s to 60s. 

Spencer taught, occasionally doing book circuits much like Dave had. Jack knew he had dated on and off, but never settled down with that one special someone. Instead he had invested all of his time and wealth into his godchildren. 

As Jack moved around the room, Derek was the next to pull him into a hug. Jack ended up on one knee in front of his wheelchair. Some years ago, he’d had surgery to replace his knee, but arthritis still caught up with him. Michael Lamontagne still frequently helped the Morgan boys (all five of them, to their grandmother’s delight) with restoring houses as a way to continue the friendship their parents still had.

As he rose from Derek, Jack saw his fiancé wrapped in Michael’s mother’s arms. One petite blonde, comforting another. JJ turned to Jack over the other’s shoulder, “I’m sorry this happened, Jack. I wouldn’t have wished it on anyone.”

He smiled sadly, “Thank you for coming. All of you. I know you all meant a lot to him. You all meant a lot to me, being there as I grew up, helping him raise me.” He heaved a big sigh, “And these last few years helping me care for him. I’m not sure I would have been able to keep him at home if it hadn’t been for everyone here stepping up and creating an environment that was safe.” He thought back to how the last few years had gone.

Aaron had just turned 63 when Jack noticed something wasn’t quite right. At first it was little things, misplaced keys, a forgotten phone or appointment, a missed meal. Jack chalked it up to a busy lifestyle until one afternoon he showed up at his dad’s house for their weekly dinner out and at first Aaron didn’t seem to recognize him, then he didn’t remember the standing date with his son. Jack asked him what day it was, and when his dad gave him the wrong answer, he pulled out his phone and dialed his Uncle Spencer.

Weeks later the diagnosis they expected came through, alzheimer’s . It was a hard blow to take that after everything, Jack would end up watching his father fade away and eventually forget him completely. 

Spencer helped him arrange part time medical help to be with Hotch when he couldn’t be home, which eventually turned into round the clock care. Morgan had arrived one weekend with his boys and fitted the house with security and safety features not to keep someone out, but this time to keep someone in. JJ visited regularly, providing a patient support and a shoulder to cry on. 

A year prior, Jack had opened the door to a guest he hadn’t seen in three years, though he would recognize her face anywhere. Madeline Garcia looked every bit like her mother, right down to the infectious grin. As a girl, her mother had died when she was eight and the then eighteen year old Jack had tried to support her as a child who lost his own mother young. Where he’d had his own father to continue raising him up and caring for him, Madeline didn’t have any family to speak of and Penelope had left her most precious thing, her daughter, in the care of those she loved the most. The team. Her will had requested that whomever was best suited within their ranks please care for and bring up her sweet girl.   
And they had done their best. At 16 she had been off to California to MIT, Spencer had made sure everything was set for a girl her age to succeed there without worry. Jack, in his mid twenties at the time, had been too busy establishing himself in the business world to give her much more thought.

But then she showed up at his dad’s house, a ripe 19 year old college grad, wanting to see her friend. He ushered her in and explained how his dad was doing. 

They’d started making plans for lunch when Aaron shuffled into the living room and spotted her, “Pen?”

“No Dad, this is Madeline, Penelope’s daughter.”

“Oh. How is my Pen? Just last week I saw something and it made me think of how much she would love it. I should have just bought it for her right then, but I will go back tomorrow and get it.”

Madeline’s eyes welled with tears as she listened to the man she used to look up to talk about her mother, having forgotten her death. “Mom died eleven years ago. You came to see her in the hospital.”

Aaron screwed up his face, “No. No no.” The nurse appeared and escorted him away.

\--

Jack looked at his fiancée. Time. Time was never on their side. First he was so much older, all of ten when she was born. They lost touch but then found each other again as adults, but his dad was sick. A short time after they began dating, Jack had proposed and they set a wedding date. As the planning continued, they watched Hotch deteriorate. 

And now today. Yesterday Aaron Michael Hotchner had slipped off to sleep after lunch. A normal event. Only yesterday he never woke up. Today the family, what was left of the team his father had worked with, was assembled to grieve. The funeral wouldn’t be until later, but for now they mourned together. 

Tomorrow Jack would get up and put on a tux alone. He wouldn’t have his dad there to straighten his tie or check the shine of his shoes. Tomorrow he would be driven to the church, where he would stand in front of a large room of family and friends. He was nervous, didn’t want to cry, though he was sure there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the place. 

Tomorrow he would get married.


End file.
